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Causes of Homelessness:
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Homelessness and poverty are inextricably linked. Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, childcare, health care, and education. Difficult choices must be made when limited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing, which absorbs a high proportion of income, that must be dropped. Being poor means being an illness, an accident, or a paycheck away from living on the streets.
People who are homeless are the poorest of the poor. In 1996 the median
monthly income for people who were homeless was $300, only 44% of the
federal poverty level for a single adult.
Decreases in the numbers of manufacturing and industrial jobs combined
with a decline in the real value of minimum wage by 18% between 1979 and
1997 have left significant numbers of people without a livable income.
In 1999, 32.3 million people in the United States lived in poverty. While
the number of poor people has not changed significantly in recent years,
the number of people living in extreme poverty has increased. In 1997,
14.6 million people (41% of all poor persons) had incomes of less than
half the poverty level. This represents an increase of over 500,000 from
1995.
Because of important changes in the U.S. economy and in government
policy toward poor families, children now account for 40% of poor people,
almost twice as many as any other age group.
Two factors help account for increasing poverty: limited employment
opportunities for large segments of the workforce, and the declining value
and availability of public assistance.
Sources
America’s Homeless Children: Educational Information for Students, Teachers and Parents. (n.d.) The Better Homes Fund. Retrieved on August 18, 2001, from http://www.tbhf.org/americas_children.html
How many people are homeless? Why? (n.d.) National Resource Center on
Homelessness and Mental Illness. Retrieved on September 26, 2001, from:
http://www.prainc.com/nrc/facts/facts_question_1.asp
Poverty: 1999 Highlights. (n.d.) U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on
August 18, 2001, from http://www.census.gov/hhes/poverty/
poverty99/pov99hi.html
